Monika Iuel, Wesgro’s Chief Destination Marketing Officer, encourages wine tourism providers to enter the upcoming Best Of Wine Tourism & Ambassador Awards.
With the latest airport statistics from Cape Town International Airport showing a substantial increase in domestic and international passenger movement, Monika Iuel, Wesgro’s Chief Destination Marketing Officer has encouraged wine tourism providers to enter the upcoming Best Of Wine Tourism & Ambassador Awards in any of the categories.
“The recent rise in tourism arrivals certainly bodes well for South Africa’s wine tourism sector,” says Iuel.
Reports from wine tourism providers have indicated an increase in international bookings for the summer of 2022/3. “This is welcome news of many setbacks endured by the wine tourism industry over the past two years and more,” says Iuel.
Domestic terminal passenger movement has recovered substantially, reaching a rate of 75% in April 2022, with the international terminal passenger arrivals and departures recovering similarly to 76%. Most notable are visitors from the United Kingdom arriving at Cape Town International Airport recovering to about 98% of pre-pandemic levels.
Iuel did note, however, that the cost-of-living increase might make potential domestic tourists review any sort of travel plans.
“In order to remain relevant, with enticing offers to often hard-pressed travellers, it is essential for industry players to monitor closely their competitive environment. One simple, effective step involves benchmarking. Evaluating yourself against the best of the best provides useful context in testing claims of uniqueness or distinctiveness.”
Entries for the awards close on Friday, 5 August and the cost per entry is R575, including VAT, all entries are to be submitted online at https://www.bestofwinetourism.co.za/categories/.
The awards have ten categories in total (seven for the Best of Wine Tourism and three for the Ambassador Awards). The seven categories for the Best of Wine Tourism awards include Accommodation, Restaurants, Architecture & Landscape, Art & Culture, Wine Tourism Services, Innovative Wine Tourism Experience and Sustainable Wine Tourism Practice.
The three categories for the Ambassador Awards include Authentic South African Experience, Wine Tourism Diversity and WWF Conservation Pioneer.
Winners will be celebrated at an event in October.
